Crackdown on cyclists
On Thurs., Aug. 21, around 4 p.m., a police officer in an unmarked car slapped a cyclist with a ticket on Sixth Ave. just south of Prince St. The officer would not divulge to The Villager what the offense was, saying the ticket was “confidential.” Police recently conducted Operation Safe Cycle, a two-week blitz targeting cyclists that ended Tues., Aug. 26. However, cycling advocates criticized the initiative as little more than “shooting fish in a barrel.” Ben Fried, of Streetsblog, wrote, “It seems like police know how to stake out locations where they can rack up a lot of easy tickets — places where cyclists tend to break the rules without riding recklessly.”
Dies in rooftop fall
At about 1:10 a.m. on Sun., Aug. 24, a 23-year-old woman was dancing on a South Village rooftop with about 20 fellow revelers. Police say she fell backward off of the roof and struck the pavement in front of 179 Sullivan St.
The victim, Cindy Yeh, of Bushwick, Brooklyn, suffered massive head trauma and was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she was placed on a respirator. A doctor declared her dead at 3:45 a.m. that morning.
Witnesses of the fall included her boyfriend, according to police. Originally from San Jose, California, Yeh was an intern at the Museum of Modern Art.
The New York Post reported that, according to several neighbors, the building “is notorious for it rowdy roof parties.”
The bash had been hosted by three roommates whose lease on an apartment in the building was almost up, and it was their “farewell party on the roof,” a building resident said, according to the Post.
Hudson homicide
On Thurs., Aug. 21, at about 7 p.m., police responded to a report of a man in the Hudson River near Pier 51 (the Jane St. water playground), at W. 12th and West Sts. Upon arrival, officers discovered an unidentified Asian male in the water unconscious and unresponsive with a head injury.
The man was removed from the water by police personnel and was declared DOA at the scene by emergency medics.
The incident was initially classified as an “investigate,” pending the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office’s determination of the cause of death. It was subsequently reclassified as a homicide. There have been no arrests, and an investigation is ongoing.
A heel of a fight
An early-morning altercation between two women inside a nightclub at the Gansevoort Hotel at 18 Ninth Ave. escalated on Sun., Aug. 24. One woman kicked the other with her high heels sometime between 2 a.m. and 2:45 a.m., puncturing the victim’s upper-left thigh and causing substantial bleeding and bruising.
Police responding to a radio call arrested Marie Thys, 24, and charged her with felony assault. The victim, whose age was not readily available, was transported to a hospital.
iPhone mugging
Three men in front of 117 MacDougal St. were attacked and robbed by two men at about 1:40 a.m. on Sat., Aug. 23. According to police, the two assailants punched the victims on the head and made off with two iPhone 5’s with a reported total value of $1,220, plus bank cards.
The victims, ages 31, 26 and 26, suffered pain, swelling and other injuries.
Police chased the two suspects and arrested Walter Humphrey, 21, and Nate Smiller, 25. They were charged with felony robbery. The victims recovered their property.
Forcible touching
A man ground his genitals against the buttocks of a 28-year-old woman trying to enter her residence at 40 Grove St. at about 4:45 a.m. on Sat., Aug. 23, police said. The perpetrator then encircled her in a sunken stairwell, police said. Police responded and arrested Anthony Thomas, 27. He was charged with misdemeanor forcible touching.
Cobblestone break-in
A man broke the glass storefronts of two high-end boutiques at 271 and 267 W. Fourth St., at about 2:30 a.m. on Wed., Aug. 20, police said. The suspect used a cobblestone to gain potential entry to Hotveli and A.P.C.
Police soon arrived on the scene in response to the racket and charged Howard Parker, 50, twice — once for each storefront — with attempted burglary, a felony. The perpetrator did not enter either premises, according to police reports.
Pants slasher
A man known to the police was observed cutting the left-side pants pocket of a sleeping 20-year-old man in the Sixth Ave. L train station on W. 14th St. at about 5:30 a.m. on Thurs., Aug. 21. The perpetrator then reached into the man’s pocket and removed a Samsung Galaxy S3 valued at $300.
An officer who was at the scene found the cell phone in the right-front pants pocket of Robert Bookard, 51, as well as a razor blade in his left pants pocket.
— Zach Williams
